Asian Studies


Book Services


 


 About us
   
contact details

 Catalogue
   
business & economics
   
cultural studies
   
fiction
   
history & biography
   
languages & linguistics
   
literary studies
   
natural history/environment
   
politics & international affairs
   
religion & philosophy
   
visual arts

 Ordering
   
trade terms
   
contacts

 Participating publishers


.

People of Virtue
Reconfiguring Religion, Power and Moral Order in Cambodia Today
edited by Alexandra Kent & David Chandler
  • Discusses the dynamic interplay between religion, power and moral order in Cambodia.
  • Explores the processes by which Cambodia is attempting to recover moral order after years of violent conflict.

Much attention has been given to the 'killing fields' of Cambodia, far less to how the country can recover and heal itself after such an experience. Crucial to this process has been the formation of a new moral order in Cambodia and hence the revival of religion in the country. Certainly, the regeneration of the ritual life of a community may offer ways for people to formulate and relate to their collective stories through symbolism that recalls a shared cultural origin. However, this process requires that the representatives of religion and of morality do have credibility and moral authority, something that may be called into question by their past and present involvement in hegemonic political and secular affairs. The importance of this volume, therefore, is not only that it contributes to the new interest in religion in Cambodia but also because it places the religious revival in a nuanced social, cultural and political context and shows how Cambodia pursues order in large part through reference to her past.

Published by NIAS Press, NIAS Studies in Asian Topics # 43
March 2008, 320 pp., 28 illustrations
ISBN 978 87 7694 036 2, hardback, £45.00
ISBN 978 87 7694 037 9, paperback, £18.99